1. Field
The present invention relates generally to wireless power. More specifically, the present invention relates to a wireless power receiver, charging thereof, and detection of invalid devices by a wireless power transmitter.
2. Background
Approaches are being developed that use over the air power transmission between a transmitter and the device to be charged. These generally fall into two categories. One is based on the coupling of plane wave radiation (also called far-field radiation) between a transmit antenna and receive antenna on the device to be charged which collects the radiated power and rectifies it for charging the battery. Antennas are generally of resonant length in order to improve the coupling efficiency. This approach suffers from the fact that the power coupling falls off quickly with distance between the antennas. So charging over reasonable distances (e.g., >1-2 m) becomes difficult. Additionally, since the system radiates plane waves, unintentional radiation can interfere with other systems if not properly controlled through filtering.
Other approaches are based on inductive coupling between a transmit antenna embedded, for example, in a “charging” mat or surface and a receive antenna plus a rectifying circuit embedded in the host device to be charged. This approach has the disadvantage that the spacing between transmit and receive antennas must be very close (e.g. mms). Though this approach does have the capability to simultaneously charge multiple devices in the same area, this area is typically small, hence the user must locate the devices to a specific area.
In a conventional wireless charging system, it may be difficult to determine if a device to be charged, such as a mobile telephone, is placed optimally within a charging region of a wireless power transmitter. If the chargeable device is placed on an edge of the charging region, the chargeable device may not receive an adequate amount of power and, thus, may cause an error message (e.g., “incompatible charger”) to be displayed. Further, if the wireless power transmitter attempts to charge with insufficient power, an oscillatory state may occur where the wireless power transmitter repeatedly attempts to charge the chargeable device. This may cause annoying beeps or a false sense of charging from a user's perspective.
A need exists for methods, systems, and devices for wireless power receivers configured to enter a charging state upon determining that a sufficient amount of power is available from an associated wireless power transmitter. Moreover, a need exists for a wireless power transmitter configured to detect invalid devices positioned within a charging region of the transmitter.